Fibrous material and method for its manufacturing

ABSTRACT

A fibrous material including a fibrous material, urea peroxide absorbed on the fibrous material, and a bicarbonate anion containing substance absorbed on the fibrous material.

This application is a 371 of PCT/FI96/00109 filed Feb. 23, 1996.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a fiber structure containing urea peroxide anda method for its manufacturing. The fiber structure of the invention isused especially in hair bleaching.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has long been known that the sunlight together with the air causesnatural bleaching of hair. Bleaching is based on the oxidation of colorpigments in hair, which is effected by oxygen in the air and causes thetransformation of the color pigments into achromatic substances.

Bleaching of hair is thus based on the oxidation phenomenon. Inartificial hair bleaching, which is relatively much faster than thenatural method, strongly oxidizing substances are used. A conventionallyused bleaching agent is hydrogen peroxide. The effect of hydrogenperoxide on hair is both physical and chemical. It causes scale likecells on the surface of a hair to be detached from each other, wherebyit can penetrate the hair. In the hair, the hydrogen peroxide oxidizesthe melamine functioning as a pigment.

Hair can also be bleached with so-called rinsing solutions containinghydrogen peroxide and ammonium hydroxide or with bleaching shampooscontaining these agents. However, hydrogen peroxide is not preservedlong as a solution, which means that fresh solutions should always beused. Penetrating the hair with hydrogen peroxide can be made moreeffective by using a moisturizer, for example quaternary ammoniumcompounds. It is also possible to use tablets which in addition tohydrogen peroxide contain urea compounds. The tablets are dissolved inwater immediately before the use.

Bleaching materials of emulsion or cream form can be used when it isdesired to color only a certain amount of hair. Cream bases of theseproducts contain macromolecular alcohols, fatty alcohol sulphonates etc.Instead of hydrogen peroxide it is possible to use sodium, potassium orammonium persulphate. Quaternary ammonium compounds as a part of thecream bases facilitate the treatment of hair.

All bleaching materials used in hair treatment should be non-toxic, theyshould not have any harmful side effects and neither should they damagethe hair.

However, by using said methods of prior art the hair is excessivelystrained. When bleaching with conventional methods it can be difficultto locate the bleaching particularly when making bleached stripes.Furthermore, the bleaching usually takes a rather long time. Inaddition, the person who treats the hair is exposed to dusty bleachingmaterials. Also, the odors formed in the work environment are quitestrong when using conventional methods.

In a number of applications it is known to use urea peroxide as thesource of oxygen. It has the effect that it retards the growth ofbacteria and fungi; it can be used to eliminate odor etc. Furthermore,it can be used for bleaching.

The anti-bacterial and disinfecting properties of urea peroxide areutilized in the invention in accordance with Finnish patent application941126. It presents a fiber structure containing urea peroxide and amethod for its manufacture. The fiber structure according to FinnishPatent Application 941126 comprises a polysilicic acid containing fiber,having the urea peroxide absorbed therein. The fiber structure comprisesa supporting structure which is advantageously of cellulose, preferablyregenerated viscose cellulose, and polysilicic acid containing aluminiumsilicate sites or mere polysilicic acid homogeneously distributed in thesame phase with the viscose cellulose. To absorb urea peroxide inpolysilicic acid containing fiber structure has, for example theadvantages, compared to ordinary, for instance viscose fibers, that thematerial lasts longer in the fiber patches, and better resistance towashing. The embodiments of the fiber structure presented in Finnishpatent application 941126 include, for instance, the use of the materialin hospitals. Another possible field of application mentioned there ishair bleaching for instance when making stripes in hair. However, noexamples describing embodiments of the latter field of application ispresented here.

The structure of the polysilicic acid containing fiber, or the so-calledVISIL-fiber, and its manufacturing employed in the above mentionedapplication is presented in patent publication GB-1064271. Themanufacturing and structure of the VISIL-fiber are also described inpatent publication FI-91778. However, the invention presented in thispublication primarily deals with a VISIL-fiber modified by using acompound containing aluminium, that is the so-called "VISIL-AP"-fiber.The present invention utilizes these fiber materials containingpolysilicic acid. However, the invention is not limited to these fibermaterials, instead any absorbent fiber material can be used, such ascellulose based fiber material, for instance viscose fiber.

As it has been mentioned earlier, the conventional methods for hairbleaching have many disadvantages. In addition, it has been noted thathair bleaching by using the VISIL-fiber patches in accordance withFinnish patent application FI-941126, in which patches of only ureaperoxide is impregnated as the active agent, is too slow andinefficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a product to be usedin hair bleaching, which can be used to implement the bleaching quicklyand easily and in a manner that the hair is not damaged.

Further, the purpose of the invention is to provide a product to be usedin hair bleaching, which product is pleasant to use as to work hygieneand health, and which product does not form waste harmful to theenvironment.

Furthermore, it is the purpose of the invention to provide a product forhair bleaching which is of reasonably inexpensive material.

Another purpose of the present invention is also to present a method formanufacturing the above mentioned product.

Yet another object of the invention is to present a method for hairbleaching and a particular object of the invention is to present amethod for making bleached stripes in hair.

It has now been noticed that hair bleaching, and particularly makingbleached stripes in hair, may be easily and quickly implemented, in amanner that the treated hair is not strained, by using the bleachingfibrous material containing urea peroxide in accordance with the presentinvention. By using the bleaching material according to the presentinvention, the amount of odors and dusts spreading in the workenvironment also decreases to a significant degree. In accordance withthe present invention, the polysilicic acid fibrous material containingurea peroxide is characterized in that a fibrous material of this typefurther contains as active agents a substance containing a bicarbonateanion, advantageously ammonium bicarbonate. The present inventionincludes advantageous options for the fibrous material, specialcharacteristic features in the manufacturing of this material, and useof the fibrous material of the present invention in bleaching hair.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The product according to the invention used for bleaching hair thuscomprises the fibrous material in which the compounds producing thebleaching are absorbed. The bleaching of a desired area in hair isimplemented by wrapping around the hair to be treated patches cut of thefibrous material. The bleaching material absorbed in the patches is letto influence the hair at a mild temperature for a suitable time, whichis about 30 minutes.

Thus, it has now been noticed that the bleaching can be efficiently andquickly implemented and well allocated to the area to be bleached, withhardly any straining to the hair where the bleaching agent used in thebleaching fiber material is urea peroxide, in which has been added asubstance containing a bicarbonate anion, such as sodium bicarbonate(NaHCO₃) or ammonium bicarbonate (NH₄ CO₃). Substances are impregnatedin the absorbent fiber which is capable of releasing the active agentsin suitable using conditions. Advantageously, these substances areimpregnated in the polysilicic acid containing fiber, that is theVISIL-fiber, which is described above.

An effective bleaching is provided by using bicarbonate, because HCO₃and urea peroxide react with each other, wherein percarbonic acid isformed as the intermediate product, which produces the desiredbleaching. Percarbonic acid is a non-permanent intermediate product andit is further decomposed to carbon dioxide and water. The flow of thereaction can be illustrated with the following reaction scheme, in whichammonium bicarbonate is used as an example:

    NH.sub.4 HCO.sub.3 +CO(NH.sub.2).sub.2 H.sub.2 O.sub.2 →H.sub.2 CO.sub.4 +CO(NH.sub.2).sub.2 +NH.sub.4 OH+H.sub.2 O→CO.sub.2 +2H.sub.2 O

The percarbonic acid, which is formed as the intermediate product, isless harmful to health and work hygiene than peroxide. The NH₄ -ionwhich is present in the reaction in its turn facilitates the bleachingmaterial to penetrate the hair.

In dry state, the urea peroxide is a white crystalline substance, whichdissolves in water and alcohols. The substance decomposes at atemperature of about 75° to 78° C., when exposed to humidity even atabout 40° C. Urea peroxide is inexpensive. Furthermore, it decomposes incomposting when the temperature exceeds 40° C. and it becomes a part ofnutritious soil.

The fibrous material used in hair bleaching is manufactured by absorbingthe active agents in the fiber structure. The fiber structure isadvantageously in a form of a planar textile structure, such as anon-woven cloth. The non-woven cloth can be formed of polysilicic acidcontaining fiber with a supporting structure possibly of cellulose,advantageously of regenerated viscose cellulose, in which thepolysilicic acid is homogeneously distributed in the same phase; thatis, it is so-called VISIL-fiber. Further, in the invention, it ispossible to use other fibers in which polysilicic acid is bound, forinstance polysilicic acid containing synthetic fibers, in whichpolyester forms the supporting structure. However, the relativelyinexpensive costs of the polysilicic acid containing viscose fiber makeit the most advantageous alternative. In addition, it is also possibleto use other absorbent fibers which can be synthetic, natural fibers orof regenerated cellulose.

With regard to the purpose of use of the present invention it is mostadvantageous to manufacture the fibrous material patches of desiredsize, in which the active bleaching substances, that is the ureaperoxide and bicarbonate, are then impregnated by immersing the patchesinto these solutions one after the, other or by spraying the solution tothe patches. After each immersion or spraying phase the patches aredried, in order to prevent the substances from reacting with each othertoo early. The urea peroxide used for impregnation can be manufacturedbefore the impregnation by mixing urea peroxide solution and hydrogenperoxide solution with each other or by dissolving urea peroxidecrystals in the impregnation solution. Experiences indicate that asolution obtained by the latter method is of a more uniform and stablequality. Further, it is possible to bring the material into contact withthe latter solution in wet state, after which drying is made quickly.Furthermore, it is possible to absorb the active agents at one time fromthe same solution, which has been kept in good conserving conditions (ata low temperature) or manufactured immediately before the absorption. Itis also possible to absorb hydrogen peroxide to a fiber impregnated withurea, in conditions in which the urea peroxide can be formed inconnection with the absorption.

It is self-evident to an expert in the field that the active agents canbe impregnated according to the corresponding principles in a largerquantity of fibrous material, and patches of a suitable sizes can be cuta thereof. It is to be noted the changes taking place with time in thebleaching efficiency of the active agents of the material which is keptmoist. This issue is further discussed below.

In the bleaching urea, peroxide containing fiber material of the presentinvention, urea peroxide is impregnated from a solution of about 10 to30%, advantageously about 15 to 25 %, and ammonium bicarbonate from asolution of about 1 to 20 %/, advantageously about 2 to 15%.Correspondingly, it is noticed that using such concentrations, theremaining quantities of the dry weight of fiber in the VISIL-fiber isabout 0.30 to 0.56 weight % urea peroxide, advantageously about 0.39 to0.52 weight %, and about 0.041 to 0.46 weight % ammonium bicarbonate,advantageously about 0.080 to 0.39 weight %. Particularly good resultsin bleaching are obtained when the proportions in the solutionimpregnated in the fiber patches were about 20% urea peroxide and about10% ammonium bicarbonate. The concentrations of the active agents inVISIL-fiber can be adjusted by modifying the concentrations of the ureaperoxide solutions and the ammonium bicarbonate solutions, by modifyingthe relation of the fibrous material to the solution quantity and/or byadjusting the retention time of the fibrous material in the solution.The values mentioned above are suggestive for the values obtained whenalkali metal bicarbonates are used.

Instead of ammonium bicarbonate other bicarbonates can be used, forinstance sodium bicarbonate. Further, additives known in bleaching agentmixtures can be used in the fibers.

If particularly bleached stripes in hair are desired, the fiber patchesare preferably for instance strips of the size 15×5 cm, which are easyto wrap on the treated area of hair. On the patches also aluminium foilor plastic foil can be wrapped in order to prevent the active agents andmoisture from evaporating. The effect of the bleaching substances isimproved for instance by using a heating lamp. A sufficient treatingtime is about 20 to 40 min. Finally, the bleached hair is washed andrinsed with excess water. The result by using the method in accordancewith the invention is excellently bleached hair, the structure of whichhas remained intact and the condition of which corresponds untreatedhair.

The stability of the effectiveness of the bleaching substances used inthe bleaching fiber patches according to the present invention wasstudied. In the study, it was noticed that the solution formed ofbleaching substances (urea peroxide and ammonium bicarbonate) preservedwell at refrigerator temperatures even for several weeks. On the otherhand, patches moisturized with this solution lost their bleachingefficiency by the next day. According to the performed tests, it is alsopossible to "pre-fabricate" bleaching patches in a manner such that thefiber patches are impregnated solely with urea peroxide and the patchesare subsequently dried at a temperature under 40° C. and the driedpatches are kept at room temperature. These pre-fabricated patches arenot moisturized until immediately before use with ammonium bicarbonate.The efficiency of these patches was equal with the efficiency of thepatches manufactured right before use.

In addition, it was generally noticed that the bleaching efficiency wasimproved by raising the pH-value, because the base opens hair scales andthus helps the active agent to operate better. The pH-value of theimpregnation solution containing bicarbonate is adjusted with base to beover 8.5, advantageously between 8.8 and 9.2.

In the following examples the present invention is described moreclosely. However, the examples are not to be considered to limit theinvention but only to clarify the objects of the present invention.

EXAMPLE 1

Reference Example

A material containing 60 g/m² VISIL non-woven cloth was manufactured byabsorbing urea peroxide solution in the material. Urea peroxide wasmanufactured by dissolving urea in water of room temperature and byadding hydrogen peroxide. The non-woven cloth was cut in pieces of about15×5 cm and urea peroxide solution, containing 20% urea peroxide, wasimpregnated in them. The moisturized fiber was used immediately andwrapped on a hair sample. The fiber and hair sample was wrapped inplastic foil or aluminium foil and the sample was kept at an incubatorwith a temperature of 40° C. for 20 to 40 min. After this treatment thehair was removed from the wrapping and it was rinsed in excess water. Asa result, only slightly bleached hair samples were obtained.

EXAMPLE 2

A fibrous material in accordance with Example 1 was manufactured, withthe difference that the solution contained 20% urea peroxide and 2%ammonium bicarbonate, and the hair was treated in a corresponding manneras in Example 1. As a result, it was obtained bleached hair that hadbetter condition and looked better than the hair treated withconventional methods.

EXAMPLE 3

A fibrous material in accordance with Example 1 was manufactured byusing a solution containing 20% urea peroxide and 10% ammoniumbicarbonate, and the hair was treated in a corresponding manner as inExample 1. As a result, it was obtained hair that was very well bleachedand had better condition and looked better than the hair treated withconventional methods.

EXAMPLE 4

A fibrous material in accordance with Example 1 was manufactured byusing a solution containing 20% urea peroxide and 10% ammoniumbicarbonate and living hair on the scalp was treated according toExample 1. The head of test subject was kept under a heating lamp about30 min. The hair was washed after the treatment and excellent stripeswere obtained as a result. The hairs in the stripes, that is thebleached hair, looked and felt equally good as the cut and bleached hairsamples.

EXAMPLE 5

The composition of an impregnation solution containing known additives:

    ______________________________________    Urea peroxide 10%    NH.sub.4 HCO.sub.3                  9%    NH.sub.4 OH   1.5%       (pH adjustment)    "TURPINAL 4NL"                  1%    ______________________________________

"TURPINAL 4NL" is a solution manufactured by Henkel KGaA and used as astabilizer of hydrogen peroxide, in which solution the active agent istetrasodium etidronate at a concentration of 29 to 31% which forms acomplex with the interfering metals.

EXAMPLE 6

When using sodium bicarbonate instead of ammonium bicarbonate it wasobtained also a clear bleaching effect, which did not appear to be asstrong as by using ammonium bicarbonate.

EXAMPLE 7

The stability of urea peroxide was tested by manufacturing fiber patchesin three different methods:

1) It was manufactured fiber patches in which the tested liquid had beenimpregnated. The patches were kept at refrigerator temperature and theywere used for bleaching in predefined intervals.

2) A method according to 1), except that the patches were kept at roomtemperature.

3) Fibre patches were manufactured by absorbing them with the testedliquid immediately before use. The tested liquid was also kept atrefrigerator temperature and the manufactured patches were used forbleaching in a corresponding manner as with the ready-impregnatedpatches in 1).

4) It was manufactured fiber patches which were impregnated with ureaperoxide from a 30% solution without ammonium bicarbonate and thepatches were dried. The dry patches were kept at room temperature andonly before the bleaching test they, were impregnated with ammoniumbicarbonate from a 10% solution.

The patches which were kept moist lost their activity already by thenext day, whereas the patches made of a solution kept in a bottleimmediately before use, as well as patches which had been kept dry forthree weeks, hardly lost any of their activity.

In other words, the ready-made patches containing both active agentsshould be used relatively fresh. On the other hand, the moisturizingsolution preserves well, even for several weeks, at a sufficiently lowtemperature, as well as do properly dried, pre-fabricated urea peroxidefiber patches, which are activated immediately before use with ammoniumbicarbonate solution.

According to the results in preservation obtained for different fibrousmaterials and substance combinations it is also possible to define abest-before day for the actual product.

Although the invention is described above primarily in respect of hairbleaching, it can also be used in objects, in which anti-bacterial anddisinfective properties of fibers are required, and especially in suchobjects, in which rapid oxidation by percarbonic acid is desired.

We claim:
 1. A hair care product, comprising:a fibrous material; ureaperoxide absorbed on the fibrous material; and a bicarbonate anioncontaining substance absorbed on the fibrous material.
 2. The hair careproduct according to claim 1, wherein the bicarbonate anion containingsubstance is ammonium bicarbonate.
 3. The hair care product according toclaim 1, wherein the fibrous material is a polysilicic acid containingmaterial.
 4. The hair care product according to claim 3, wherein thefibrous material includes a supporting structure of cellulose, whereinthe polysilicic acid is homogeneously distributed in the cellulose. 5.The hair care product according to claim 4, wherein the cellulose isregenerated viscose cellulose.
 6. The hair care product according toclaim 1, wherein the fibrous material includes 0.04% to 0.5% by weightof the bicarbonate anion containing substance and 0.3% to 0.6% by weighturea peroxide, wherein the percent by weight is based upon the dryweight of the fibrous material.
 7. A fibrous material, comprising:afibrous material; urea peroxide absorbed on the fibrous material; and abicarbonate anion containing substance absorbed on the fibrous material.8. A method for manufacturing a fibrous material, the method comprisingthe step of:treating a fibrous material with a solution containing ureaperoxide and a solution containing bicarbonate to absorb the ureaperoxide and bicarbonate in the fibrous material.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the bicarbonate solution is an ammoniumbicarbonate solution.
 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein thesolution containing urea peroxide and the solution containingbicarbonate are the same solution.
 11. The method according to claim 8,wherein the fibrous material is immersed in the urea peroxide solutionand bicarbonate solution immediately prior to use.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the fibrous material is sprayed with theurea peroxide solution and bicarbonate solution immediately prior touse.
 13. The method according to claim 8, wherein the fibrous materialis treated first with the urea peroxide solution, the method furthercomprising the steps of:drying the urea peroxide treated fibrousmaterial; maintaining the urea peroxide treated fibrous material in adried state; and treating the urea peroxide treated fibrous materialwith a bicarbonate solution immediately prior to use.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the solution containing urea peroxideincludes from 10% to 30% by weight urea peroxide and the solutioncontaining the bicarbonate includes from 1% to 20% by weightbicarbonate.
 15. The method according to claim 8, wherein the solutioncontaining urea peroxide includes from 15% to 25% by weight ureaperoxide and the solution containing the bicarbonate includes from 2% to15% by weight bicarbonate.
 16. The method according to claim 8, furthercomprising the step of:cutting the fibrous material into patches priorto treating the fibrous material.
 17. The method according to claim 16,wherein the patches are strips.
 18. A method for bleaching hair, themethod comprising the step of:contacting hair with a fibrous materialcontaining urea peroxide and bicarbonate.
 19. The method according toclaim 18, further comprising the steps of:permitting the fibrousmaterial to contact the hair for 20 to 40 minutes; separating the hairand the fibrous material; and rinsing the hair.
 20. The method accordingto claim 18, wherein the hair is bleached in stripes.